| Be it the wild eclecticism of Mr. Bungle and System of a Down, or the breakneck savagery of Bay Area thrash, Sacramento’s Inruin have called a host of different influences their home. With a career spanning close to 10 years, the hard-hitting four piece has seen some truly promising acts come and go, which has only reaffirmed their philosophy that the music will always come before success.
Although originally formed in 1993, the nucleus of Inruin has been singer Zoey Walton and guitarist Alex Hall, who met in 1996 when Hall was forming the band. Lineup changes were of course inevitable in the years to come, but Walton and Hall have been the constants since they first formed Inruin some nine years ago.
The pair eventually happened upon bassist Leon Marcelis and drummer "Cack." Walton believe it is this configuration that best suits the local veterans.
“I think [this lineup] is a solid one that’s going to be around forever, hopefully,” Walton says. “Everybody’s got their own attributes. Everybody’s got their own style that they bring.”
As much can certainly be said of Walton, whose vocal style blends melodic belting with Mike Patton-style rowdiness and hardcore histrionics. Little surprise, then, that he names Faith No More and Mr. Bungle when quizzed on his inspiration.
Musical cohesiveness aside, this lineup has also helped Inruin expand into areas outside the capitol. The San Leandro-based Marcelis has helped Inruin land gigs in the region. “Leon is a promoting master,” the singer says.
As for Cack, Walton doesn’t mince words. “He’s my favorite drummer I’ve seen in local bands,” he says. A statement not to be taken lightly, given how long Walton’s been involved with Sacramento’s oft-vibrant music scene.
Inruin’s style would be an aggressive, groove-driven machine, with simple yet effective riffing and cement-footed rhythms that alternated between driving stomps and vertebrae-snapping velocity. Topping it all off is Walton’s vocal schizophrenia, which screams angrily one bar and lets out an ear-piercing falsetto wail the next.
Nu-metal? Maybe to some, but in the early 90s the term still meant something, and only the misinformed could accuse Inruin of being mere copycats trying to cash in on a bygone era. Indeed, if a piece of the record industry pie was all that Inruin were aiming for, they probably would have bowed out of the game years ago.
Considering that Sacramento was once home to would-be success stories such as Luxt and The Council -- both of whom were on the verge of breaking into the big time -- that Inruin have found the resolve to keep going at all is on its own pretty remarkable.
“I’ve always said that it’s all for me,” says Walton of his reasons for staying with Inruin. “It’s an outlet for me. It helps me be who I am.”
Now that the mainstream train has moved on to emo and metalcore – both of which have proved themselves difficult to define – Inruin are more than happy to be doing their own thing, and want more than anything to simply keep releasing music unto the masses.
“I think we come up with some really great music,” Walton says. “The stuff we’re coming up now, that we hope to release if we get the cash together, I think it’s just really new level stuff.”
The changes over Inruin’s last two albums have been subtle but reach considerably far. Where “Insignificant” made its mark via aggression, one can easily note the generous helpings of melody and humor that found themselves into the band’s 2002 album, “The Tenth of Never.”
“We just keep progressing over the years,” Zoey says. “We change our style just enough to advance and keep it exciting for ourselves.”
In keeping with this tradition of sorts, Walton says the next album will show that the band has ventured into newer territory as well, though he can’t say for sure what influences in particular are at work.
“It’s more stylish,” he remarks. “It’s got more of something to say. More toned in, more focused.”
He also cites “getting older” as a reason for the changes.
“I’m about to be 30, and Alex is 32,” he says. “So it’s just a natural progression. When you’re with somebody for that long, it’s like we’re brothers now.”
Zoey admits that musical preferences differ among the members of the band, but Inruin manage to stay cohesive in spite of it.
“I know it’s not that that riff sucks, you gotta trash that riff, it’s more like, ‘I know that you can do better with that riff, so keep working with that,’” he relates.
Although the idea that eventually gets used may sound nothing like the original, Zoey says the end result is always worth it.
“We’re not the fastest writers,” he jokes. “But we really do meticulously work it out.”
As for success, there is some trepidation on the part of the band about dealing with and often volatile music business, that has seen whole styles of music go in and out of popularity as quickly as the weather changes from one season to the next.
“It’s a real dirty industry,” Zoey says. “Probably one of the worst. There’s a lot of bullsh-t out there that you have to learn your way around.”
Nevertheless, Inruin remain dedicated to the cause. With their rigorous schedule of about a show each week, Zoey in particular admits that outside of his activities with the band he doesn’t have much of a social life.
“It’s not really about the money. I would love to quit my job and do music 40 hours [a week], touring all over the world,” he says. “And hopefully that happens…. But if it doesn’t, I’m happy recording my own music and enjoying it myself.”
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